I recently paid someone in China using a SB Mastercard via Paypal. For the first time in a series of international payments with the card I got charged an International Transfer Fee of R 484.70. The currency exchange profit from ZAR to USD was already in for MC/SB. So there is no reason for charging for non-existing costs for SB. The item on the statement said !INTL. Trans Fee. Can SB please explain this and stop charging this fee and refund the one paid?

I phoned SB Card Division this morning. The story is that the International Transfer Fee is for the conversion of foreign currency to ZAR. In my case, I paid someone in China in USD, via PayPal. I now also found out that any payment OUTSIDE SAwith a Standard Bank Mastercard of debit card

I found out that any payment OUTSIDE SA (on site or online) using a SB Mastercard of a SB debit card will result in currency conversion charges. In other words, you are buying USD, Euro's or any other currency using Rands. Expensive with the current Rand value.

My advice: do not pay with SB credit or debit cards when travelling outside SA or when buying online. You pay the monthly fee + currency exchange rates.

With a business in SA importing products from China and usually paying suppliers there with a credit card through PayPal, it is becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible to NOT TO GET RIPPED OFF BY SOUTH AFRICAN BANKS. We move forward, but without you would be a better slogan.

As a smal business owner doing a lot of imports, I'm 100% with you, ReneVanSon.

I also phoned SB y'ay. Spoke to Queen (a lady). She was clueless and escalated my query to management. Apparently, the 2.75% transfer fee has been a standard (ahem) feature of all SB credit card transactions for some time, but it was bundled into the price. Now, for the sake of greater transparency, the bank fee is reported as a separate line item.

IOW, we are not paying more than in the past, we're just more aware of it than in the past.

I'm just reporting what was told me.

I told Queen that SB could have had the decency to inform card holders of this change. At least their call centre would have been spared some calls. As it is, management did not even bother to inform their own call centre agents about this change. Looking ahead so we don't see you cry.

The change was instituted on 15 April 2018.

On a slightly happier note, I had to reverse the payment that attracted the Intl Transfer Fee. Due to the slide of the Rand since the time I made the payment, I got a really good deal out of the refund. The Intl Transfer Fee was also reversed, also at the new rate. A tidy profit was made, enough to pay for a weekend for two away.

I applied for a UK VISA a few weeks ago and the amount was stated on the WEBSITE of the application center as R6277. This still incurred a R175 transaction fee. My colleague, who banks with FNB, did not incur an international transaction fee. So someone in STANDARD BANK please explain your logic and how do we as Customers know when a transaction will be subject to a fee and when not, because we are paying these fees even when the values stated on the websites are in RANDS!

It seems as though other banks are not instituting this international transaction fee. I have used my capitec card to purchase and this was free, yes FREE!! Once again Standard Bank has proved to me that they are no longer worth banking with. After almost 20 years I have had enough of mediocre service. Another bank whom I don't even transact with, offered me incredible service that totally blew me away. I will be moving my account soon.